Gift bags brighten patient stays at Akron Children’s Hospital

New sights, new sounds, unfamiliar procedures. A hospital stay can be an intimidating experience for little ones.

To help take a bit of the sting away from time spent in the hospital, Akron Children’s Hospital is giving away tote bags donated by Kohl’s Cares®, filled with age-appropriate goodies to patients age 6 to 9.

The tote bags contain items such as books, stuffed animals, a deck of cards, markers, DVDs and more.

Andrew Holt, a recent recipient of one of the tote bags, had been in the hospital for almost a week when he was surprised with the bag. Eyes wide, Holt eagerly looked through the contents.

“Wow, Shrek,” he said, referring to one of his favorite videos found in the tote bag. Within minutes, the video was playing on his room’s TV monitor while he flipped through one of the books from the bag.

“Kids have to go through some very unpleasant things,” said Laura Leiendecker, a child life specialist on the floor where Holt was recovering from his procedure. “It’s nice to have some pleasant things to make their stay more bearable.”